An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

economics and all this doesn't just boil down to "obama is socialist" blah blah

the government pays for our roads and infrastructure, our public transport, our education, our police, etc. So all in all, there's the essence of socialism in there, otherwise every school and police force would be private. it isn't this simple, and if it were, we wouldn't really be in this mess, now would we?

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

this came from a documentary..... doesn't make it any less valid, just saying....

anywho semi off topic, my Macro eco teacher basically would have blown Kinse (sp?) if given the opportunity in 2008, i wonder if he still feels the same way now? i would venture to say no.

we do need more teachers like this that arent afraid to simply tell kids that some students will succeed and that others wont at least to the same extent. Instead my business ethics teacher went around trying to brainwash kids into thinking that "the sole purpose of business is for the pious goal of employing its employees". Not an exaggeration, the teacher really believed this, if you said "no your wrong, the goal of business is to make money for the person who started it" he would say you are wrong and wouldn't allow you to speak anymore in class. no reason why he was right and you wrong. just no and your not going to be allowed to speak anymore....

this came from a documentary..... doesn't make it any less valid, just saying....

anywho semi off topic, my Macro eco teacher basically would have blown Kinse (sp?) if given the opportunity in 2008, i wonder if he still feels the same way now? i would venture to say no.

we do need more teachers like this that arent afraid to simply tell kids that some students will succeed and that others wont at least to the same extent. Instead my business ethics teacher went around trying to brainwash kids into thinking that "the sole purpose of business is for the pious goal of employing its employees". Not an exaggeration, the teacher really believed this, if you said "no your wrong, the goal of business is to make money for the person who started it" he would say you are wrong and wouldn't allow you to speak anymore in class. no reason why he was right and you wrong. just no and your not going to be allowed to speak anymore....

It's not a zero-sum game like how the OP believes it to be. You're led to believe that capitalism gives everyone an equal opportunity to succeed but it's really just a modern day/neo-slavery oppressive system.

It's not a zero-sum game like how the OP believes it to be. You're led to believe that capitalism gives everyone an equal opportunity to succeed but it's really just a modern day/neo-slavery oppressive system.

That is absurd.

Are you really going to tell me if YOU, develop a product, learn a skill, or innately provide a valuable service, and you innovate and market that thing of value, and if EVERYTHING you do is directed towards realizing gain from that thing of value you don't have the same opportunity as anyone else? Seriously what on earth will hold you back or oppress you other than yourself?

Are you really going to tell me if YOU, develop a product, learn a skill, or innately provide a valuable service, and you innovate and market that thing of value, and if EVERYTHING you do is directed towards realizing gain from that thing of value you don't have the same opportunity as anyone else? Seriously what on earth will hold you back or oppress you other than yourself?

"other than yourself" thats whats holding some back. We cant all be successful just like we cant all be good looking etc.. either way if we leveled the field we would have exactly what you wrote about the class up top.

That person is being naive if he thinks its a slave situation etc. If we all split the cars performance that are out, we would all drive camrys, but slower. Its the same with everything. Thats just life, bitching about it is one thing but forcing everyone to level the field is childish, naive, and idealistic at best. Every action has a consequence and that's why people need to look at this from the point of view of a realist....

Id rather some fly while some crawl instead of all of us limping along....everything we have was made by someone who wasnt afraid to fly, even knowing some were destined to crawl.

Interesting points on both sides... throughout my short life on this Earth I've found that no system is perfect. If you believe socialism is the end all and be all; then you are a fool... If you think that Capitalism gives everyone a fair chance, then you are a fool as well...

No one is given the same opportunity as much as that is the way we have been fed forever. That's impossible and if it was, every single hard working person would be a millionaire or living very wealthy. There is many informal factors to consider... like family status and connections, a little bit of luck and your overall way of doing things. All three of these have to converge somewhere for you to rule the Earth... that is capitalism.

In socialism... it's even worse. It sounds like everyone is equal and given a fair chance but realistically there are people at the top that the people at the bottom will never touch. This is life... you can argue it or accept it.

"other than yourself" thats whats holding some back. We cant all be successful just like we cant all be good looking etc.. either way if we leveled the field we would have exactly what you wrote about the class up top.

That person is being naive if he thinks its a slave situation etc. If we all split the cars performance that are out, we would all drive camrys, but slower. Its the same with everything. Thats just life, bitching about it is one thing but forcing everyone to level the field is childish, naive, and idealistic at best. Every action has a consequence and that's why people need to look at this from the point of view of a realist....

Id rather some fly while some crawl instead of all of us limping along....everything we have was made by someone who wasnt afraid to fly, even knowing some were destined to crawl.

We are born with our looks, success is a product of what we do. What we do is completely in our control.

I think you should go back and re-read the OP. It's all about anti-socialisim and not leveling the playing field, just as you have spoken. The professor was making the class see that leveling the field was a very poor choice to make. Perhaps you mis-understood.

Are you really going to tell me if YOU, develop a product, learn a skill, or innately provide a valuable service, and you innovate and market that thing of value, and if EVERYTHING you do is directed towards realizing gain from that thing of value you don't have the same opportunity as anyone else? Seriously what on earth will hold you back or oppress you other than yourself?

That argument is only valid for whites. Look back at the history of the Americas. Modern capitalism in the 1500s? Not quite. Wipe out the natives then implement blacks to build the country. Once they established themselves as the hegemonic status quo, they can then say "equal opportunity for all"- knowing that this socially constructed idea will benefit them more. It's not like capitalism is a naturally occurring idea. Economic trade, maybe yes. But the idea of capitalism as an equal opportunity for all is socially constructed and is totally bullshit.

But again, you don't really think we're all equal with the same life chances and resources do you?